Did I Become a Disbeliever by Repeating Lyrics Containing Disbelief?
Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: Assalam aleykum
Did I become a disbeliever by repeating lyrics containing disbelief?
Answer: assalamu alaykum
Merely repeating lyrics that contain statements of disbelief would not render one a disbeliever. However, it would be sinful to do so and one must avoid it.
The reason why it would not be disbelief is because judgments concerning the faith of someone rest upon what they believe or choose not to believe. An individual who is part of the Muslim community will continue to be deemed as part of this community unless there is decisive, certain, and unambiguous evidence that he or she has rejected a core belief of Islam that is necessary for one to be a Muslim.
Repeating lyrics without accepting what they signify in terms of beliefs, or doing so without paying much attention to what they actually mean (which seems generally to be the case), are not repudiations of core Islamic beliefs. While it may be severely disliked to utter such lyrics, a judgment of disbelief cannot be passed on individual merely based on this action.
As I have detailed elsewhere, anathema (takfir) is a very serious matter that the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) severely warned against. There are stringent guidelines when it comes to the issue of takfir that demonstrate serious attempts by scholars to avoid it at all costs. For more on this, I would advise you to read the following answers:
Has My Father’s Joke Made Him a Disbeliever?
What Takes a Person Out of the Fold of Islam?
What Are the Consequences of an Oath of Disbelief?
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.
